In a major relief to the employers of the private companies and factories, the Supreme Court on Friday said the government cannot force them to pay full wages to workers during the lockdown period.
The Supreme Court bench of justices Ashok Bhushan, SK Kaul and MR Shah have given the Centre government the time of 4 weeks to reply on the legality of its March 29 notification in which the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) made it mandatory for employers to pay full wages to workers.
While pronouncing the verdict on Friday, Justice Bhushan said, "We directed no coercive action to be taken against employers. Our earlier orders will continue. A detailed affidavit has to be filed by the Centre in last week of July. Negotiation between employees and employers will have to be facilitated by state government labor departments."
Apparently, when the employers argued in court that they do not have the financial capacity to pay full wages to workers for the period of the lockdown when they saw no business, the court asked Centre to reply.
It has also been said by the Supreme Court that negotiation between employees and employers regarding wage payment will have to be facilitated by the state government labor departments.
The court has said laborers will have to negotiate for the payment of wages of 54 days of lockdown.
The matter will again be heard in the last week of July after Centre files its reply.